Spoils are goodies left for the player after they complete a minor task. They come in four flavours: those dropped by defeated enemies (regular spoils), those dropped by Wario after taking damage (lost spoils), those dropped from broken blocks (block spoils), and those from opening chests (chest spoils). The player only has a limited time to claim fallen spoils before they vanish.<\/p>\n
(Regular) Spoils<\/strong><\/p>\n Since there are more enemies than blocks and chests, enemy spoils are the most common variety of drops, which is why they’re just called spoils. They consist of a coin and a small heart. Not all enemies drop spoils, but most do. Bosses and enemies in the boss room never drop spoils. The unit value of coins dropped depends on the difficulty of the enemy.<\/p>\n Spoils fly out of enemies in the opposite direction to which Wario attacked them. Once they’re in the air, they’re at the mercy of gravity. Although they fall slower in water, thanks to buoyancy, spoils aren’t affected by other external force, such as currents and conveyor belts. Because all of Wario’s attacks displace him at the same speed, the speed at which spoils burst out from enemies is also constant. Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.<\/p>\n Spoils are pretty meagre rewards, but they’re frequent, due to the abundance of enemies, and only require minimal effort to pick up. In most cases, the player only has to move Wario a few extra steps to nab the coin and small heart. The effort is worth the reward. The relative ease in attaining spoils and the assurance that practically every enemy will drop something coerces the player into automatically collecting every drop, guaranteeing repetition.<\/p>\n The culmination of consistent spoil chasing is significant. If there are sixteen enemies in a level and the player collects all the spoils, they will have healed two hearts and amassed a nice wad of cash. Sometimes two hearts can be the difference between saving or wasting 10 minutes of game time, while the bonus coin units can turn a gold crown into a platinum one. Within the logic of the game then, repeatedly pursuing these drops is a rational thing to do. So, through the use of spoils, the game designer coerces the player into consistently making short-term efforts for long-term goals.<\/p>\n There’s another aspect which drives us to collect spoils. Because we bring spoils into the world, by way of defeating enemies, we consider them to be our responsibility. This feeling is perpetuated by the brain’s want for 1) cleanliness and order and 2) completion. The former is the same compulsion that makes Tetris so addicting, while the latter is what drives us to acquire collectables and earn achievements . The spoils represent both clutter, drawing on the first driver, and evidence of incompletion, drawing on the second driver. This gives them a powerful psychological pull.<\/p>\n Spoils may not be the randomised rewards of a Skinner box (see: MMO and social games), but they still have an unpredictability to them, where they land. When spoils fall between cracks, off a high platform, or into water, the effort required to retrieve them is multiplied. Because the way spoils fall is determined by the player (which direction Wario attacks from) and natural causes (gravity, the area around the enemy), wayward spoils which fall out of reach never feel cheap. Since spoils often fall astray, the player’s commitment to these rewards is regularly tested and they’re challenged to respond to their trained behaviours.<\/p>\n Lost Spoils<\/strong><\/p>\n Wario drops lost spoils after taking damage. Unlike regular spoils, there’s no small heart and the coin(s) is taken from the player’s level kitty. This is a punishment, after all. The amount of coinage dropped depends on the difficulty of the enemy. Wario doesn’t drop lost spoils when the level kitty is nil.<\/p>\n The psychology behind lost spoils is different to that of regular spoils. Instead of coercing the player to make consistent short-term effort for long-term gain, lost spoils persuade the player to acknowledge fault and \u201ccorrect\u201d<\/em> a mistake. Assuming everything in Wario Land 4<\/em> is fair and good, when Wario gets hurt, the player should feel that it’s their own fault. Since the coin(s) Wario loses fall out next to him, the player can reclaim them to undo some of the loss of being hit. In this regard, recovering lost spoils is an act of redemption which, through action, confesses to the mistake of allowing Wario to get hurt. Although collecting lost spoils is positive within the game world\u2014after all, if you could partially undo a mistake, why wouldn’t you?\u2014psychologically it’s an admission of guilt.<\/p>\n Block Spoils<\/strong><\/p>\n Block spoils are randomised coin drops hidden inside blocks. Breaking blocks is an inherently motivating interaction as the feedback is satisfying and the player can freely modify sections of the environment. To change the game world is to personalise it, which creates a sense of ownership over play. Block spoils psychologically reinforce the player’s motivation to break blocks. They reward the player in both coin units and added visual flair.<\/p>\n Chest Spoils<\/strong><\/p>\n Chest spoils are coin drops from opened chests. Every chest, even if the player already took what was inside on an earlier run, drops a gold coin. Chest spoils reinforce the positive nature of claiming a reward.<\/p>\n
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